Where The Action Is
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Album Summary
"Where The Action Is" came rolling off the Dolton Records assembly line in 1966, and baby, it was the sound of a band firing on all cylinders. The Ventures — Don Wilson and Bob Bogle on guitars, Nokie Edwards on bass, and the incomparable Mel Taylor holding it all down on drums — had been riding a wave of massive television exposure thanks to the ABC-TV music program sharing the album's name, and they channeled every bit of that energy straight into the grooves of this record. Produced during one of the most prolific and commercially potent stretches of their career, the album captured the group at a moment when their instrumental surf-rock signature was not just a style but a full-blown American institution, laid down with the precision and authority that only comes from a band who had been living and breathing this music together for years.
Reception
- The album charted on the Billboard 200, a testament to The Ventures' remarkable ability to keep their instrumental sound resonating with American audiences deep into the mid-1960s pop landscape.
- It performed with steady commercial strength, drawing in both devoted surf-rock faithful and casual radio listeners who knew that when The Ventures put a record out, it was going to deliver.
Significance
- "Where The Action Is" stands as a snapshot of The Ventures at the absolute height of their powers, demonstrating with authority why they were the reigning kings of instrumental rock in an era when the British Invasion was threatening to sweep everything else off the charts.
- The album's connection to the ABC-TV series of the same name gave The Ventures a cultural footprint that went beyond the record shop, embedding their sound into the living rooms and memories of a whole generation of young Americans who grew up watching music on television.
- With tracks like 'No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)' — a song the nation already knew and loved from a Alka-Seltzer television commercial — the album showed that The Ventures understood how to meet their audience right where they lived, blending pop familiarity with their unmistakable instrumental fire.
Tracklist
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A1 Action 157
1:59
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A2 Lies 142
2:21
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A3 Fever 114
2:41
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A4 Stop Action 91
2:17
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A5 3's A Crowd —
2:20
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A6 A Taste Of Honey 87
2:34
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B1 No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In) 129
2:11
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B2 Action Plus 157
2:34
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B3 Hang On Sloopy (My Girl Sloopy) 119
2:32
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B4 Nutty 105
2:07
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B5 Little Bit Of Action 82
2:12
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B6 She's Just My Style 141
2:30
Artist Details
The Ventures are the undisputed kings of instrumental rock, a group of four cats from Tacoma, Washington who came together in 1958 and proceeded to lay down some of the cleanest, most infectious guitar-driven grooves the world had ever heard — twangy, reverb-soaked surf rock that made every listener feel like they were cruising down a California highway with the top down. Their iconic sound, built on crisp electric guitar melodies and tight rhythmic arrangements, produced classics like "Walk Don't Run" and the eternally cool "Hawaii Five-O" theme, cementing their place as one of the best-selling instrumental groups in music history. The Ventures didn't just make records — they inspired generations of guitarists around the globe, particularly igniting a full-blown rock revolution in Japan where they remain legends to this day, proving that the language of music needs no words when the groove is this deep.
